Container for liquids

ABSTRACT

A container for liquids that allows the contents to be emptied out quickly without spattering or gurgling. A sealed closure within the neck of the container can be opened by pulling a ring on the bottom of the container to open both an air inlet in the bottom of the container and the closure in the neck of the container. A connecting rod within the container opens the closure in the neck of the container in response to opening of the air inlet closure at the bottom of the container, to allow the contents of the container to flow out through the neck, while air enters into the container through the opening at the bottom of the container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates generally to sealable containers forliquids, and more particularly to a liquid container adapted to containliquids such as motor oil, and from which the liquids can be emptiedquickly.

Millions of quarts of motor oil are sold every year in the United Statesand around the world. Motor oil is typically sold in molded plasticbottles each having a screw-on cap mounted at the end of a neck. To pourthe oil into the crankcase of an automobile engine, the user typicallyunscrews the cap from the neck and tips the container to pour the oilfrom the container into a fill tube leading to the crankcase. This isoften made easier by using a funnel.

As many motorists know, a problem with this approach is that a funnelmay not be available, and if one is, it must be cleaned after use. Manytimes, without a funnel the user is not able to pour oil from thecontainer into the crankcase fill opening without spilling some amountof motor oil. Also, pouring with a bottle tipped too far often resultsin some gurgling and splattering as the outward flow is interruptedperiodically by air flowing into the neck of the bottle. Some of the oilthen may drip onto the top of the engine rather than going into thecrankcase. If the oil is not immediately wiped off, the engine becomesdirty and must be cleaned. Furthermore, oil remaining on the engine maybecome very hot and create an unpleasant odor, causing the driver toquestion whether something may be wrong with the engine. Another problemis that motor oil is considered a hazardous waste and should not beallowed to drip onto the ground from the engine.

Various ways have been proposed to prevent oil from flowing out of thecontainer until the user has aligned the neck of the container with thecrankcase fill opening. However, none of them meet two desirablecriteria for a popular and practical system. First, any motor oilcontainer should allow the oil to flow quickly and smoothly out of thecontainer into a crankcase fill tube so that the user does not need tospend an inordinate amount of time waiting for the container to empty.Secondly, a motor oil container must be fairly inexpensive to make, ascompetition in the motor oil industry is tight and millions uponmillions motor oil containers must be manufactured. Additionally, thecontainer itself should not have any parts which can fall out of thecontainer and into the crankcase.

Motor oil may be fairly viscous. As previously mentioned, oil exits theconventional molded plastic oil container through the neck of thecontainer, which is the same opening through which air must enter toreplace the oil. The gurgling of oil alternatingly exiting from, and airflowing into, the container can cause motion of the container, thusrequiring a user to hold the container during the filling process. Theuneven flow may also result in oil being spattered onto engine surfacesor surroundings.

It is therefore apparent that there is a need for an inexpensive, easilyproduced container in which liquids such as motor oil can betransported, marketed and stored, and which allows for quickly andconveniently pouring liquid from the container without splashing orspilling.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, as defined by the claims forming a part of thepresent disclosure, provides a container for liquid products that allowsproducts to be discharged quickly and conveniently. The presentcontainer in one embodiment is a bottle that has a relatively narrowneck and an openable closure such as a conventional screwed-on cap at anupper end, and that has a wider base and an openable closure at theopposite or bottom, end.

In one embodiment of the container the cap can be removed by unscrewingit, allowing the container to be inverted and its neck to be positionedappropriately with respect to a receptacle, but the contents areretained in the container by an internal closure in the neck. A secondclosure on the bottom of the container can then be opened. As the secondclosure is opened a connecting tension-bearing member such as a rodattached to the second closure and extending to the internal closure inthe neck of the container simultaneously opens the internal closure,allowing the contents of the container to exit through the neck, whileair enters into the container through an opening defined by the closureat the bottom of the container.

In one embodiment, the container is a blow-molded plastic bottle of aconventional shape including a threaded neck with a screw-on cap.

In one embodiment the internal closure and the bottom closure includeplastic closure bodies that can easily be torn open to allow liquid toflow from the container.

To pour liquid from the container, the container can be inverted withthe cap removed from its neck. When the container is inverted, a ringconnected to the second closure is exposed at the bottom of thecontainer and can be pulled to open the second closure. As pulling thering on the bottom opens the second closure it also pulls a connectingrod within the container and can also open the internal closure withinthe neck of the container. The contained liquid, such as oil, is thenfree to flow from the container with a much lower likelihood of bubblesand spatters.

The foregoing and other features will be apparent from the followingdetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a liquid product container incorporatingan exemplary embodiment of the present invention, showing the containerinverted.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the container, taken on line 2-2 of FIG.1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the inverted container shown in FIGS. 1and 2 with the included internal and second, or bottom, closures beingopened by a user.

FIG. 4 is detail view showing a portion of the internal closure in theneck of the container shown in FIG. 3, at an enlarged scale.

FIG. 5 is detail view showing a portion of the closure shown at thebottom of the container in FIG. 3, at an enlarged scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 3, a container 10 for liquids such asmotor oil may be of molded plastic. The container 10 may have agenerally rectangular body 12 with a base 14 broad enough for theliquid-filled container 10 to stand stably on the base 14. The container10 may include a shoulder portion 16 that tapers to a relatively narrowcylindrical neck 18 with external threads and an opening closedoptionally by a cap 20 held in place by the threads of the neck. Nearthe top of the container 10, within the neck 18, there is a first, orinternal, closure 22 that sealingly closes the container 10 to retainwhatever liquid is held within the body 12 until it is desired for theliquid to be released from the container 10. As will be explained, theinternal closure 22 can be opened quickly to release the contents of thecontainer 10 when desired.

At the bottom or base 14 of the container 10 is an area 26 that isindented, spaced upwardly and inwardly of the body 12, apart from theplane 28 of the bottom of the container 10. Within the indented area 26is a second or container bottom closure 24 that may be generally similarin structure to the internal closure 22. The second or bottom closure 24may have a pull-ring 30 attached to the closure 24 in a way that allowsa user to quickly and easily pull open the bottom closure 24. Thepull-ring 30 may be attached by a flexible connector so that thepull-ring 30 lies close to the base 14 of the container and resides inthe indented area 26, until lifted away to be used. The indented area 26is recessed within the bottom or base 14 of the container 10 and shapedso that the second or bottom closure 24 and the pull-ring 30 resideabove the bottom plane 28 of the container 10. That is, the secondclosure 24 and pull-ring 30 are located completely within the indentedarea 26 rather than protruding beyond the bottom plane 28. This allowsthe container 10 to stand upright on a flat surface without thepull-ring 30 contacting the supporting surface and causing the container10 to be unstable.

The first, or internal, closure 22 and the second, or bottom closure 24,can both be a non-reclosable type of sealing closure such as the closuredisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,426.

Instead of being provided with a cap 20, the neck 18 may be closed by anadhesively attached seal of metal foil of the type that is usuallypresent within the screw-off cap of a conventional plastic motor oilbottle. The cap 20 may be desired, however, as it can serve to protectthe first, or internal, closure 22 from being accidentally opened by aperson handling the container 10 or by being pushed open inadvertentlyby a foreign object during transport of the container 10. It will alsobe understood that the cap 20 could be used to reclose the neck 18 tocontain a portion of the liquid originally contained after a portion hasbeen dispensed from the container 10, since the internal closure 22 maynot be capable of sealing re-closure once it has been opened. Remainingliquid can be retained within the container 10 by replacement of the cap20, although the container 10 would then have to be kept inverted toprevent liquid from flowing out through the second closure 24.

As may be seen in FIG. 4 the internal closure 22 may have a conicalcollar 31 surrounding a tubular portion 32 housing a closure body 34that extends across and sealingly closes the tubular portion 31. Theclosure body 34 is connected integrally with an interior surface of thetubular portion 32 through a relatively thin and weak tearableconnecting portion 36 that may extend as a narrow area around theclosure body 34. The closure body 34 can thus be separated from thesurrounding tubular 32 portion by tearing the connecting portion 36,freeing the closure body 34 and opening a passage through the internalclosure 22. In one version the closure body 34 may be attached to theinterior of the tubular portion 32 by a flexible hinge portion 38stronger than the connecting portion 36, keeping the closure body 34attached within the tubular portion 32 but movable to open the passage,or to partially close it.

Other closures that can be opened by pulling a part of the closure tobreak a seal and provide an open passageway for flow of a liquid mayalso be satisfactory, as will be understood from the followingdiscussion.

A connecting cord or rod 42 has a pair of opposite ends, a first end 44being connected to the closure body 34 of the internal closure 22, andthe second end 46 of the connecting rod 42 being attached to a closurebody 48 of the second, bottom closure 24, so that when the second,bottom, closure 24 is opened, the connecting rod 42 pulls on the closurebody 34 of the first, internal, closure 22 and causes it to open aswell.

The connections of the ends 44 and 46 to the closure bodies 34 and 48must be secure but may have some flexibility. The connecting rod 42 hasa length 50 at least equal to the distance 52 between the closure bodies34 and 48 of the closures 22 and 24 when they are closed. The length 50of the connecting rod 42 must be great enough for the first, internal,closure 22 in the neck 18 of the container 10 to be sealed without riskof being pulled open as a result of normal flexing of the body 12 andbase 14 of the container 10, and when the body 12 and the closures 22and 24 are all of plastic and somewhat flexible the connecting rod 42can be a little longer, so long as it is not so long and stiff that itmight push either of the closures 22 and 24 open. The connecting rod 42may be constructed from a durable, material strong enough and connectedto the closure bodies 34 and 48 securely enough to pull open the firstinternal closure body 34 when the second closure 24 is opened. Theconnecting rod 22 must be slender enough not to impede the flow ofliquid product 60 as it leaves the container 10.

In the second, or bottom closure 24, the closure body 48 is connected,by a tearable thin connecting portion 53, to the interior surface of thetubular portion 54 sealingly closing an air passage defined in thesecond, container bottom, closure 24. A stronger portion 55 of theconnecting portion 53 may be provided as a hinge for the closure body48. A flange 56 extends radially around the tubular portion 54 of theclosure 24 and is connected sealingly and securely to the base 14 of thecontainer 10 within the indented area 26, for example by a chemicaladhesive or by thermal welding.

When the first and second closures 22 and 24 are opened, theirrespective closure bodies 34 and 48, connected with each other by theconnecting rod 42, move open in the same direction. That is, the closurebody or disk 34 of the first internal, closure 22 is moved into thecontainer body 12 and the closure body 48 of the second closure 24 opensoutwardly away from the base, or bottom 14 of the container 10.

The container 10 is designed to contain a liquid product 60 such asmotor oil and to securely contain the liquid during transportation andstorage of the container 10. When it is desired to discharge the liquidfrom the container 10, the container 10 may be inverted and the neck 18may be placed within an upwardly-open mouth of a receptacle, such as afill tube leading to the ultimate destination for the liquid contents 60of the container 10, for example, a crank-case of an engine. Prior toopening the interior, or upper closure 22, the liquid product 60 maynearly fill the container 10, with the surface of the product 60 beingnear the bottom or base 14 of the inverted container 10. As shown inFIG. 2, where the container 10 is inverted, the liquid product 60 hascollected in the upper part of the container 10 and is, kept inside thecontainer by the first, or interior, closure 22, and the cap 20 is stillon the container 10.

The second closure 24 can be opened by a user inserting his or herfinger into the pull-ring 30 that is attached to the second closure 24and pulling (upward as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3) away from the container10. The second closure 24 is designed to open by tearing its closurebody 48 away from the surrounding tubular portion 54 when pulled by theuser. The opened configuration is shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, where a userhas pulled on the pull-ring 30 causing the closure body 48 to peelupward away from the base 14 of the container 10 and the connecting rod42 to pull upward on the closure body 34 and open the internal closure22, allowing the product 60 to flow from the container 10.

When the cap 20 is removed and both of the closures 22 and 24 are openedas shown in FIGS. 3-5 the liquid 60 can flow through the tubular portion32 of the first closure 22, through the neck 18, and out of thecontainer 10.

Air enters the container 10 through the second closure 24 as the liquidproduct 60 flows out through the first closure 22. This allows anequilibrium to be maintained between the air pressure within thecontainer 10 and the ambient air pressure, avoiding, splashing,gurgling, or spilling of the product 60 as it flows from the container10. Furthermore, because of the unrestricted entry of air into thecontainer 10, the product 60 is able to flow faster than it otherwisewould had there not been an opening provided by a second closure 24,restricted only by the degree to which the closure body 34 of theinterior closure 22 has been moved clear of the passage in the tubularportion 32.

The interior closure 22, the container bottom closure 24, and theconnecting rod 42 may be molded together as an integral plasticstructure that can be inserted within the body 12 of the container 10.The conical flange 31 can then be sealingly and securely adhered to theinterior surface of the neck 18, and the flange 56 can be adhered to thebottom, exterior, surface of the indented area 26. To allow assembly,then, there may be an opening 66 through the base 14 of the containerbody 12, within the indented area 26, large enough to allow the conicalsurrounding flange 31 of the first, interior closure 22 to pass throughthe opening 66 and be mounted in the neck 18 of the container 10.

At the same time the surrounding flange 56 of the second, bottom,closure 24 can be brought into position to mate against the surface ofthe indented area 26 of the base 14. The flange 56 can be adheredsealingly to the surface of the container base 14, either by chemicaladhesive or possibly by thermal welding.

Once the closures 22 and 24 have been installed in the body 14 of thecontainer 10, the liquid product 60 can be injected or pumped into thecavity defined within the body 12 through a filling port 68 or 70, whichcan then be sealed by adhering a sealing plug or cap 72 to the body,either by thermal welding or a chemical adhesive, depending on thematerials of the body 14 and the sealing cap 72, and depending on thenature of the liquid product 60. It will be understood that only onefilling port is needed and that its location could be that of either ofthe two filling ports 68 and 70.

The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoingspecification are used therein as terms of description and not oflimitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms andexpressions, of excluding equivalents of the features shown anddescribed or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of theinvention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.

I claim:
 1. A container for liquids, comprising: (a) a body having abottom and a top and defining an interior cavity of a desired volume,the body including a neck at the top; (b) a first closure located in theneck; (c) a second closure located at the bottom of the body; (d) atension-bearing member within the interior cavity, extending between andinterconnecting the first and second closures; (e) the connecting rodhaving a first end attached to the first closure and a second endattached to the second closure; and (f) the connecting rod beingarranged to cause the first closure to open in response to the secondclosure being opened.
 2. The container of claim 1 including a pull-ringthat is attached to the second closure in such a manner that the secondclosure can be opened by pulling on the pull-ring.
 3. The container ofclaim 1 including a sealable filling port in the body capable of beingsealed after the body has been filled with liquid deposited within thecavity through the filling port.
 4. The container of claim 1 includingan indented area in the bottom shaped such that the second closureresides completely within the indented area.
 5. The container of claim 1wherein the first closure includes a closure body that moves into theinterior cavity when the first closure is opened.
 6. The container ofclaim 1 including a filling port in the body, separate from the firstand second closures and that is adapted to be sealed after a quantity ofa liquid has been inserted into the container through the fill port.